I kid y'all not, this summer has been absolutely insane. It hasn't been as hot as the last one...but that said, this week has been a scorcher! Mama and I have been slowly but surely moving things from this house to that house. We're STILL not ready to start bringing the animals over; Mama and I want to tear up the carpet and put down something that can be mopped, AND we want to fence in the backyard so that the dogs don't have to go out on leashes. A family friend is putting siding on Grandma's house, but because he's got a trillion other things to do in a trillion other places he can only work on the house sporadically. He's doing a GREAT job though, and he's cutting us a break in pricing wherever he can, so we don't mind. The ironwork has been replaced by the aforementioned posts, and first chance I get I'll take a picture of those.
Anyway, with all that's been going on I've eked out the handful of fluff posts, but the moving stuff phase has slowed down quite a bit so I've had time to throw together a few reviews. With that...I'm not gonna lie to y'all, I like fidget toys. I fell victim to the fidget spinner fad in 2017 (mine glows in the dark), and when I'm bored and don't have a doll or a book or my phone I prefer to have said fidget spinner or SOMETHING to keep my hands busy. As a result when I first saw these Fidgie Friends in stores...well, I made a note of them in the blog, but I'm only now getting around to reviewing them myself. Now...here's where things get interesting. Right before Christmas I got Boba Bubbles and Fairie Garden; Fairie Garden's mushroom theme was what finally made me purchase these in the first place. Poor ol' Fairie's box got smashed at some point before I got her.
So far there have been two waves of these dolls. The first wave had Boba Bubbles, Watermallow, Dandelion Wishes, and Unicorn Sprinkles. The second wave has Fairie Garden, Ramen Dream, and Pizza Princess, the last of whom I also saw at Wal-Mart. Pizza Princess is adorable, but I've been wanting Ramen Dream since I saw her prototype. She's blue and green and FOOOOOOD (diets blow). Each of these dolls has at least two fidget functions, stuff like squishy clothes, stretchable hair, or flip sequins. Flip sequins??? I've got flip sequin hair bows, but I had no idea those were considered fidget toys. But either way Ramen's fidget items are all located in her skirt (her hair also has some "noodles").
Boba's mentions her hair popper clip, her glitter gel tail, and the water bead fins that I talked about on New Year's Day.
The same is true of Queen Sways. The dolls are similar in height but not in measurements.
All three of my Fidgie Friends are a hair walleyed, with Boba being the worst of the three. I guess being starry-eyed jukebox heroes isn't as great as Foreigner makes it out to be. Now...somewhere up above I made a note that these dolls' eyes differ between waves. Boba is first-wave, and Fairie is second-wave (Ramen is also second-wave)
Fairie's list discusses her "slow foam" skirt, her hair squishy, and her glitter-filled wings. LOL, I had no idea that foam stress balls were called "slow foam," but it makes sense.
These dolls apparently have a "unique feel for fashion." They'd have to, since fidget toys don't usually make the most practical clothes!
As all good dollies should, Ramen has a brief bio on the back of her box (yay, more alliteration!). She likes to travel and to cook, and apparently she is what she eats, LOL.
Boba sounds like she's something of a ditz, meaning that she and I could potentially be good friends. She likes sparkles, and she enjoys storytelling. I can dig that; I used to like to make up my own stories. And I love sparkles!
As for Fairie Garden, she is loyal but apparently a blabbermouth, though unlike Cindy Brady she doesn't do it to be obnoxious. Seriously, if Cindy were my kid I'd have walloped her. Anyway, Fairie also enjoys killing flies by sprinkling sugar on her skirt and letting them eat it. Okay, I made that last bit up...sort of.
I don't like the box art much, because it makes the characters look like Jumbo-Jaw Jay Leno. No offense, Jay; of all the late-night pundits out there, Jay Leno is one of two I have any respect for. Overall these dolls have a cute concept, but already I can see a couple'a problems, namely the fact that their fashions prohibit them from doing some things. S'pose some little kid wanted to put Fairie down for a nap.
Okay, bad example. Fairie manages to take a nap just fine. Ramen also makes do very well, even though her skirt is rigid and she doesn't look terribly comfortable. Ramen's skirt also slows her down in other ways, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Also, I can see some destructive little brat taking scissors to Boba's tail or Fairie's skirt and hacking it to pieces to see what's inside. I had at least one friend that did that to their Stretch Armstrong, for example. So yeah, I can already see potential problems with this line, but let's look closer at these these dolls. Boba can't stand up on her own, and I didn't have Ramen when I began working on this post, so I'm just using Fairie for these next few pictures. Fairie is similar to Monique Verbena in height, but not in measurements.
Alrighty, now let's get this party started. These dolls have...saran hair? Nylon hair? Some other kind of hair? Ramen's hair is straight and is thus smooth right out of the box, though she does have a gap in the back of her head where she was pressed against her packaging.
I freaking love these colors. Blue and yellow-green.
Most of Ramen's hair is worn loose, but she does have two small gathers on the sides of her face, ,and a pair of Sailor Moon-esque cutie buns, similar to what Sunny Madison and My #FailFix doll wear. I'd never be able to redo these if they got monkeyed up.
Tucked into said cutie buns are little bundles of stretchy noodles. I don't know if these are permanently attached, or if they're just rubberbanded in place.
Whatever the method of attachment, it feels pretty sturdy. I can pull on these noodles fairly hard and the hairstyle is not compromised.
Thank the Lordy, Ramen doesn't have bangs.
Thank the Lordy, Ramen doesn't have bangs.
I used to like bangs on dolls, but after seeing how poorly they age I'm becoming less tolerant of them. Boba's bangs still look nice, but Fairie's NEVER hung straight.
I don't care much for Fairie's hair at all, in fact. It's curly and there's a lot of it, and while it's easy to brush out it's prone to looking messy.
I do like the colors, though. Most of Fairie's hair is this lovely brown, but she also has cherry-pink highlights that don't match her skirt but don't clash either.
Boba's hair is all lavender and is in a style I hate, because it's hard to keep it looking neat.
Her bangs remain nice, however.
My OCD self is always repositioning those braids to keep the top of Boba's head looking smooth, but that's my problem. No, my big issue is that Boba's hair is also curly...and also long. Come to think of it, ALL THREE of these dolls have princess-length hair!
Hello tangles, no matter how nice the fibers are! Or at least that's the case if the doll belongs to a kid. I personally have had little trouble with this hair, but then I've done very little with it.
Around to the face we go, now. These dolls' faces has proven extremely divisive on Reddit. Some think they're vacant and others think they're sweet, and I...I have to admit that I'm in the "vacant" camp.
Around to the face we go, now. These dolls' faces has proven extremely divisive on Reddit. Some think they're vacant and others think they're sweet, and I...I have to admit that I'm in the "vacant" camp.
Ramen reminds me a little of the Vanange dolls, and that's not a compliment because those dolls are as blank as a new college-bound notebook. Not ugly, mind y'all, just...blank. I've also been messin' and gommin' with the #FailFix dolls (I own four of them now), and I couldn't help noticing that Ramen Dream and @Loves.Glam favor a teensy bit. And yet...Glam's face is more engaging. I don't know what it is, but Glam doesn't look as vacant as Ramen does.
Sunny Madison is more dreamy-eyed than the #FailFix doll, but she too is more alive in the eyes than Ramen.
Anyway, as far as I know all seven of these Fidgie Friends use the same head mold. I'm fairly certain that my three dolls do, at least. #FailFix and Rainbow High/Shadow High vary their heads somewhat.
The style of eye has changed a teensy bit between waves, but we'll get to that. Since these eyes are inset eye wonk is sometimes a problem, and indeed Ramen is a smidge walleyed. Her eyes are royal blue with two-toned eyebrows (that are NOT blue and yellow) and bronze, black, and blue eyeliner, and under each eye she's got...two spiral flowery things.
Here's a better look at one of the spiral flowery things.
I had to google it, but these things are kamaboko, or steamed fish cake. Specifically, it's narutomaki, with the spiral inside. Never had it. I wonder if it's like imitation crab meat? Whatever it tastes like, it's a popular topping on ramen soup.
Lower half of the face now. Ramen has very subtle blush on her cheeks, and lips with very shiny, not-quite-bubblegum-pink lips. She's also got a patch of teeth showing.
She's also got light clusters on her lower lip, and it looks like one didn't get painted too well.
Nuts, that's a full-tilt chip in the paint. It doesn't show too terribly, but I did read that these dolls could have paint gaffes. Welp, here's one right here! Also, I wonder why these lips are speckled. Miss Emily's Dandelion Wishes also had it. No biggie, I like the speckles. I just wish I knew why they're there.
Briefly let's look at the other two faces. Boba has blue eyes with BIG pupils and teeny-weeny stars, purple two-toned eyebrows and shiny pink lips. She also has a fair amount of blushinh on her cheeks, eyelids, and nose. I figure she's sunburned; I doubt that mermaids get much sun, living in the water and all.
But then again, some mermaids are dark. Just ask the modern-day Ariel and her sisters. They're every color one can think of! But anyway, Boba has too much blush. Fairie has it too, but since her skin is darker it doesn't show as much. Fairie's eyes are amber with pink shadow that matches the streaks in her hair (and more teeny-weeny stars). They're also highlighted with little white spots, like the spots on a mushroom. Fairie's lips are fuchsia and are a smidge too bright for me.
Interestingly, NONE of these dolls have "glass" eyes, the kind worn by Rainbow High and Shadow High, worn by #FailFix, worn by...no, Shibajuku Girls had opaque eyes too. That's kinda too bad, but then again "glass" eyes can have their own problems. Both my #FailFix doll and one of my Rainbow High dolls have eyes with weird flaws in the plastic. Piddling little stuff, but stuff that I notice. Overall I recommend picking these dolls out in stores if you can at all (I didn't), because Redditors warn of eye wonk and/or paint gaffes that can't be ignored. Doesn't sound like quality control is all that at Sunny Days Entertainment.
I'm both excited and nervous to review these bodies, since a few Reddit users thought their dolls felt flimsy. Here's Ramen in the usual positions, front, back, and sideways.
But next to a G1 Monster High doll Ramen looks pretty healthy.
Ramen has negligible up and down movement in her neck, but her side-to-side movement is good. Indeed, I could get Ramen to go Exorcist on us all if I swung her hard enuff.
Ramen's shiny plastic torso has no joints at all (G3 Monster High dolls have a chest joint), and the front doesn't even have a navel! Ramen's a space alien, y'all!!! Her back does have a T-shaped indention, I presume for the insertion of wings if she had any.
That was kinda a surprise. I knew that Dandelion Wishes and Fairie Garden had their wings (permanently) attached to a site like this, but I didn't know that the characters without wings would too. Does Boba have this?
Nope! Weird, I'd assumed that these dolls would all have the same torso. Right, where was I? Ramen's arms are in proportion to her torso for the most part, with joints at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist.
Her hands have no fingernails or creases, and one of her fingers even has some extra plastic hanging on. But what really floored me is that this wrist only rotates. It doesn't bend at all.
Sigh...I'm VERY spoiled to having dolls with wrists that bend, y'all. LIV, Monster High, Ever After High, O.M.G., Made to Move Barbie, Creatable World, Rainbow High and Shadow High, #FailFix, ALL of them have teeny-weeny hands, but they can still bend their wrists. The Fidgie Friends cannot and that's...well, to me that's a bummer. Ramen does partially make up for it though, with nice shoulders. She can move 'em up and down like all good dollies can...
...and she can move 'em all the way out. Believe it or not, one of my favorite eighteen-inch dolls can't do that.
Ramen's elbows bend and twist, but they come up just shy of ninety-degree angles.
She has enuff movement in these arms to hold her hands together like so. I like it when dolls can do this.
Ramen can also (somewhat awkwardly) touch her hair, but she cannot touch her face. I think she looks confused now, LOL.
Ramen's tights are painted on. I don't love it when toy companies do this, but the only alternative I can name is putting on real tights, and that's not a great idea for a child's toy. Anyway, Ramen's legs can rotate outwards, but that's due to a joint in the upper thigh, below the hip. That plastic bit I was talking about was zero help.
TOUCHDOWN!!!
...and she can move 'em all the way out. Believe it or not, one of my favorite eighteen-inch dolls can't do that.
HOO-RAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!!
Ramen's elbows bend and twist, but they come up just shy of ninety-degree angles.
The joints on these legs look familiar. They're very similar to Rainbow High and Shadow High legs, right up to that thin piece between the leg and the torso. I don't know what that piece is for; it doesn't appear to help with mobility much.
First position!
She has double-jointed knees, though. That's always nice.
...but she can sir nicely, or she could if her clothes didn't restrict her movement. More on that at eleven.
Boba and Fairie have only minor differences in their bodies, the most significant being that Boba has no legs. Duh, she's a mermaid and hasn't made a contract with Ursula, so she WOULDN'T have legs. Her upper half is the same as Ramen's.
Fairie has the exact same body as Ramen except for coloration...as far as I can tell. Her wings are so tightly attached to her body that I can't get her undressed.
Because of her permanently attached wings she can't reach back behind herself. Ramen and Boba can.
This isn't a huge issue since I never pose my dolls like that, but it does cut down on Fairie's range of motion quite a bit. It also makes her top-heavy and thus impossible for Fairie to stand on her own. Boba can't stand up either, for obvious reasons. These dolls could've benefited from a nice stand.
Regarding clothes, these second-wave Fidgies are far more likely to have their fidget gimmicks on their clothes (as opposed to permanently attached wings or tails). That said, this blouse is not very fidgety, unless you wannna count those crinkly sleeves.
Regarding clothes, these second-wave Fidgies are far more likely to have their fidget gimmicks on their clothes (as opposed to permanently attached wings or tails). That said, this blouse is not very fidgety, unless you wannna count those crinkly sleeves.
Technically this is more of a bodice or bodysuit than a blouse, since it has built-in panties. Not that Ramen needs those with her blue butt, but I'm not griping. Ramen's bodice is made of two silky panels of fabric, printed to look like slices of kamaboko. Note that the edges are not hemmed, putting this fabric at risk of ratting and raveling.
Now, the skirt. Where the doll got her name, Ramen Dream.
Blah, the back is plain. The strip of iridescent fabric that makes up the sleeves goes all the way around, though. AND it's well attached.
Here's how the sleeves look from the front. I wish I knew what name that fabric had, because it's tough! Aurora's dress is made partly of the same stuff, and it still sparkles today, despite its age. Ramen's neckline is trimmed with gauzy greenish tulle that also shimmers; it kinda reminds me of nori.
Nori? Yeah, we'll get back to that. Here's another look at that panel of iridescent stuff. While it is sewn securely to Ramen's bodice, the edges are very uneven, especially along the lower seam.
That unevenness is usually hidden from view by Ramen's ample hair, but the lousy stitching holding the Velcro in place is on full display. Dayum, that be ugly! But tell the truth...did y'all notice this when Ramen was wearing the blouse??? I didn't, LOL.
The blouse has little white panties sewn in, presumably to keep the blouse from riding up when the skirt is shoved into place. These don't show, but are nicely executed. No loose threads are showing like on the blouse. Or none that can't be snipped.
I freaking LOVE this part! I've never had ramen with eggs and seaweed before, but I'm certainly not opposed to the idea (a drizzle of hot sauce, shrimp and/or leftover chicken are my usual ramen garnishes). Anyway, the components of this skirt are all fidget toys except for the bowl itself. The bowl is made of rigid blue plastic that has a floral pattern on the sides.
Ramen's legs slide into this center part here. This fits tightly and is very hard to remove from the doll.
It also restricts Ramen's motion terribly. Y'all saw how Ramen can sit when she's not in this skirt, but here's how she sits while she's in it.
She can perch on things, but that's about it.
So Ramen can't sit worth a dern in this skirt, but the contents of her skirt are where the fun lies. Let's start with the noodles themselves.
These are vinyl noodles that stretch when tugged, just like the strands in Ramen's hair. These are pretty robust, though I don't recommend yanking on them with all one's might. These noodles are rubberbanded into bundles so they won't flop out of the bowl...and I know from personal experience that it is very hard to undo these. SO LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!
The scuttlebutt on Reddit is that the Fidgie Friends either have been discontinued or soon will be, and the consensus there is that the dolls have a cute concept but vacant faces. A couple'a readers also noted quality issues, particularly with Dandelion Wishes. Dandelion has/had a stress ball skirt, and in one case the fishnet lining of the skirt apparently rubbed a hole in the skirt and the crap inside leaked out. I also worry about the longevity of Boba Bubbles and Fairie Garden, since their gimmicks also include liquid of some kind. Boba's tail feels pretty robust, but Fairie's wings feel like they could break if she's dropped. These are hard as rocks, y'all.
Two pieces of "seaweed" are sticking out of the right side of the bowl. These are made of stiff fabric and are supposed to be "crinkly." They serve their crinkle purpose well, but I had no idea that crinkly stuff was a fidget toy.
This seaweed is a special type, by the way. This is the aforementioned nori, and the Japanese eat a fair amount of it, usually on onigiri (stuffed rice balls) or...well, with ramen! I have to admit that it sounds delicious, but my favorite parts of this skirt are these eggs. They're made of slow foam and...well, they're squishy and I love playing with them!
I think these eggs may have changed a bit from the prototype phase. I saw one YouTuber with an early version of Ramen Dream, and she said only the yolks of the eggs were squishy. Furthermore, they sounded like they were rubbery and not the softest things in the world. I like my Ramen's eggs, but that prototype sounds interesting too.
Lastly, shoes. Ramen's shoes are high-heeled jobs with a rounded toe and a strap. The toes are decorated with pink stripes and slices of...you guessed it, kamaboko. The soles are painted gold and have no treads.
Lastly, shoes. Ramen's shoes are high-heeled jobs with a rounded toe and a strap. The toes are decorated with pink stripes and slices of...you guessed it, kamaboko. The soles are painted gold and have no treads.
Boba's dress is a simple affair, though admittedly most of the mermaids I know of are more lightly clad than this.
The return of iridescent fabric! Boba's very short sleeves are made of that stuff and are cut with a scalloped edge. The purple stuff is sewn onto the neckline, but it looks like a necklace from a distance.
Boba's skirt is made of two panels of gauzy white stuff that's cut in scallops. There are a few flecks of glitter here and there, but that's it. A fairly simple little getup, though it looks...well, mermaidy enuff.
Of course what makes a mermaid a mermaid is the fish tail, and Boba's tail is where two of her gimmicks live. The exterior is made of soft, smooth, translucent vinyl with embedded glitter.
The tail is filled half-full with some sort of liquid. Y'all can just see it, puddled near the end of Boba's tail. I guess her tail is supposed to be a stress ball of some stripe, but the vinyl isn't THAT soft.
Boba's fins are also made of flexible, fluid-filled plastic, but the plastic is completely clear and one can see purple water beads in there.
I suspect that these water beads may be where Boba gets her name, as these look very similar to the spheres of gelatin or tapioca or what have you that goes in boba tea (also referred to as bubble tea). They also remind me of fish roe, though I can't name any fish with purple roe. These beads are pliant but not fragile; I can squeeze them without them coming apart. My fingernails are periwinkle now, by the way.
Boba's third fidget attribute is her hair clip, and there's a funny story attached to this. When I was unboxing Boba I left the clip attached to the box...and then I had to dumpster dive in order to find it again. Luckily for me the trash bin was just about full, and Boba's box was right on top. Here's the little troublemaker.
This behaves kinda like those vinyl pea pods that you squeeze to make peas pop out. I've got a pair of earrings like that. Told y'all my fingernails are periwinkle now, LOL
Anywho, Boba's clip is like those peas. Only when you squeeze it, look what peeks out!
A little blue unicorn, the exact same shade as my nails (coincidence)! Who doesn't love unicorns??? Don't answer that! The rest of the clip looks like a combination of various candies and butterfly wings. See how the main part looks like a peppermint stick? Pity that Boba's designers didn't take that candy aspect and run with it for the whole doll. I love candy-themed dolls.
For all my adulation of this clip, it's a pretty lousy clip. There's too much space between the two halves of the clip, so while it goes into Boba's hair easily...
It also falls out easily...and only now am I catching on that I can wrap the ends of the clip with rubber bands. It isn't a cure-all, but it'll help.
Like Ramen and unlike Boba, Fairie's fidget attributes are largely in her clothes. She has a fidget skirt like Ramen does, a slow foam skirt molded and painted like an Amanita muscaria.
Most members in the Amanita genus will kill a human deader than a doornail, but A. muscaria is used to kill flies instead. I think the worst it does to humans is make 'em puke, though I don't recommend testing it. That said, I love slow foam. Always have, always will. But I think back, way, waaaay back to what I said when Lala-Oopsy dolls were a thing (boy, that's been a minute!). Kids are destructive, and Fairie's foam skirt is just begging for some little brat to start pinching plugs out of it. <scowls> Every Poof ball I owned...my sister ruined EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Ahem...Fairie's ability to sit is even worse than Ramen's. Her heavy wings and rounded skirt make her ridiculously top heavy.
Fairie's headband is also made of slow foam, in the shape of a moss mound and a trio of mushroom caps (presumably more A. muscaria).
Like Boba's hair clip, this bit refuses to stay put. A strategically placed rubber band will probably help here too, but darn it, these pieces are supposed to stay put on their own!!! Right, Fairie's last fidget attribute is her permanently attached wings. They're filled with some kind of liquid and a few pieces of confetti, and I fail to see their purpose. You can't really fumble around with these wings in a pleasurable way, not like you can Boba's tail or Fairie's skirt.
As I said above Fairie's bodice can't be removed without a lot of hullabaloo (thanks to those infernal wings). It's done up like a corset over a blouse and has built-in panties like Ramen's blouse does. So that takes us to shoes. Are those gussied up combat boots???
Fairie doesn't strike me as the military type, but these boots are cute and reasonably well painted. Reasonably; the laces remind me more of those zig-zaggy things in some spider webs than they do laces. The flowers and the bows are cute, though. These are extremely hard to get off of Fairie's feet, by the way...and they're even harder to put back on. Zero out of ten, wouldn't recommend that part.
The scuttlebutt on Reddit is that the Fidgie Friends either have been discontinued or soon will be, and the consensus there is that the dolls have a cute concept but vacant faces. A couple'a readers also noted quality issues, particularly with Dandelion Wishes. Dandelion has/had a stress ball skirt, and in one case the fishnet lining of the skirt apparently rubbed a hole in the skirt and the crap inside leaked out. I also worry about the longevity of Boba Bubbles and Fairie Garden, since their gimmicks also include liquid of some kind. Boba's tail feels pretty robust, but Fairie's wings feel like they could break if she's dropped. These are hard as rocks, y'all.
Alrighty, good and bad.
BAD
*Expressions are blank and a little goofy-looking
*A LOT of hair!!! Tangle city, y'all!
*Some of these fidget parts fall flat (Fairie's wings), and some pieces have potential to be fragile (Dandelion Wishes's stress ball skirt and any of the slow foam pieces)
*I couldn't undress Fairie all the way; her clothes were too tight and her wings were in the way.
*A lot of these clothes interfere with the dolls' posing, and Boba's posing isn't great anyway.
GOOD
*I love the colors on these dolls!
*I like some of the fidget aspects too, especially Boba's tailfin and Ramen's squishy eggs.
*These dolls feel sturdy enuff at the joints, though I worry about their hair and foam pieces.
I have to admit that while I think these dolls are cute, they miss the mark they were trying to hit and I can understand why they're failing. Their status as dolls make them cumbersome fidget toys, and in many cases the fidget attributes interfere with these dolls being...well, dolls! Further, some of these fidget attributes fall flat, namely Fairie's wings and Boba's tail. I also worry about the long-time durability of the fluid-filled components of my dolls, namely Boba's tail and Fairie's wings. Lastly, these dolls look pretty blank, though they don't look unpleasant like the Boxy Girls did. Poor Riley really set the bar for homely play dolls. I have to tip my hat to Sunny Days Entertainment for trying something new, but I think dolls and fidget toys are two totally different things, and never the twain shall meet.
Cheers,
RagingMoon1987
Omg, I love to see such a detailed review and an active blog! ♡
ReplyDeleteWell I like your handle name!
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